


I Like You

by floral_mime



Series: Persona Rarepair Week 2020 [3]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Confessions, Crushes, Fluff, Goro struggles with his own feelings, Goro thanks Ryuji, M/M, No set canon, Ramen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:20:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27726729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floral_mime/pseuds/floral_mime
Summary: Goro takes Ryuji to his favourite ramen shop as a thank you for helping him get away from his fans, though there's an ulterior motive... He's just not sure if he can bring himself to say it
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Sakamoto Ryuji
Series: Persona Rarepair Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2025749
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	I Like You

One of the perks of having a food blog was that it was an excuse to travel. Sakamoto had talked about a ramen place in Ogikubo for so long now, but only today had Akechi actually asked him if they could go there together. He stood outside of the restaurant, checking his messages to make sure the delinquent had actually said yes; he was awfully late to a trip to his favourite restaurant.

Just as he found the message where they agreed to meet, he heard Sakamoto calling out. He looked up to see him jogging up and waving. He slowed to a stop, catching his breath. “Sorry I’m late. I was tryin’ to look a little more presentable.” He smiled. “I’d hate for the detective prince to be caught with someone looking like a mess.”

He wore a jacket over a t-shirt and nice pants, though they were still cuffed to expose his ankles. His hair looked as if it had been styled, then was messed up again by his running. Akechi smiled politely. “I appreciate the effort. Shall we go inside?”

They had chosen a slow time so that the detective wouldn’t be swamped with fans, so they got seats together relatively quickly. Ryuji ordered his usual and Akechi asked for whatever their specialty was, and then they waited. 

“So what did you wanna talk about?” Ryuji asked, leaning on the table to get a better view of Akechi.

“This is a sort of thank you gift,” Akechi explained, though Ryuji’s expression suggested he had no clue what he was being thanked for. “You helped get me away from that mob of fans, and I thought I’d show my appreciation with food. My treat.”

Ryuji’s face lit up. “Aw, sweet!” He was always so expressive and honest with his emotions, it made the detective a little envious. “You don’t gotta buy me food every time I help you, though. I’d get you away from them anytime.”

Akechi chuckled lightly. “You’re quite certain I’m going to need rescuing like that again.” He nodded. “Alright, then for every ten rescues, you get a meal free.”

That earned him a light punch in the arm from Ryuji. They were both smiling as their ramen was placed in front of them. Akechi realised his meal was bigger than he had expected; they didn’t skimp on portion sizes here.

Ryuji had already started eating, seemingly hurried to get to the bottom of his bowl. “If you go slower, it’ll last longer,” Akechi advised.

The blonde shook his head, ruffling up his hair a little more. “Yeah, but why wait for it to go cool? That’s just sad.”  
“I suppose that’s one way to think about it,” Akechi said before starting on his own food. The two sat, eating, not making much conversation for a bit and Akechi started to wonder if this was, possibly, the wrong way to go about it. He had ideas on what to say, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

He at least decided the silence had gone on long enough. “I was a little surprised you were so agreeable to this. I think most of your friends would have been far more hesitant to go out somewhere with me.”

Ryuji finished demolishing the noodles he had picked up before smiling. “Nah man, of course I’m agreeable! I like you!”

Akechi blinked. “I appreciate that. I’m sure everyone else just tolerates me, so it’s nice to know I’m on your good side,” he said with a small, courteous nod. 

“Good side…? Wait, do you think I just get along with you?”

“Is that not what you mean? I’m not sure I follow,” he said, picking up his water to have a simp. There seemed to be some tension, but he was sure he was imagining it all. But before he could he could talk himself out of thinking that way, Ryuji clarified what he meant.

“I, y’know, like-like you.”

Akechi almost choked on his drink. He could feel his face going red as he looked to Sakamoto in shock. “You…”

He couldn’t understand. He had meant to say the same thing -- different phrasing of course, but the same idea -- and yet he had been beaten to it. The fact that Ryuji said anything first… This had to be wrong, it had to be a joke.

“Gah, sorry man, I didn’t mean to freak you out,” he said, glancing around to make sure they weren’t making a scene. “I just thought-”

“Can we talk about this somewhere else?” Goro mumbled flatly. Ryuji opened his mouth to say something, but shut it and just nodded. “Thank you.” The detective paid for their meals and walked out, the trackstar tagging behind him. Ryuji’s food had been close to done, but Goro’s hardly looked as though it had been touched.

\---

They stood in a small alley near the ramen shop, out of the public eye as best as possible. Goro leaned against the wall, one arm across his chest propping up the other as he covered his face with his hand. Ryuji stood across from him, rocking from foot to foot awkwardly and glancing around. Despite the fact they meant to talk about it somewhere else, there was a tense silence between the two.

“I’m sor-” Ryuji spoke up just to be cut off by Goro putting his hand out.

“Stop apologising,” he said bluntly. He sighed before looking back at Ryuji properly. He crossed his arms. “Did you seriously mean what you said?”

His intuition was superb, but despite how bad the other was at lying, he couldn’t get himself to believe his confession. He studied his body language as Ryuji, who had been jolted out of rocking by his interruption, nodded and looked him square in the eye.

“One hundred percent,” he said, more seriously than most of their conversation up to this point. “I seriously like you, but I get it if you’re not interested. I’ll back off, don’t worry.”

“No…” Goro shook his head, looking to the ground beside him instead of Ryuji. “Don’t interpret it like that. I’m…” Say it. _Say it!_ He knew how he felt and he could reasonably communicate it to Sakamoto, so he might as well say it!

“...I’m not against this.” 

That answer was enough for Ryuji. He seemed to spring up, less serious and more excited again. “For real? Aw, that’s good.” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with a grin that said he’d have hated to make Goro uncomfortable. “We had to cut food short, but is there anything else you wanna do ‘round here?”

Goro checked his phone for the time and caught a glimpse of the message it had last been opened on. A small smile came to his face. “I have time, so alright. Let’s look around.”


End file.
